Vengeance
by Unknown Nemesis
Summary: Raptor the Hedgehog was an outlaw who worked for an anonymous boss. But when his employer betrays him and his gang, Raptor goes on a path of vengeance to kill his boss and take back what's his, all while achieving a new power that will change who he is forever. A cross between Sonic, Ghost Rider, a bit of Assassin's Creed, and Dishonored. I don't own the cover image!


**Chapter 1: The Beginning**

The sun blazed in the sky as the distant humming of motorcycles echoed throughout the small desert landscape. Three cycles whizzed through the scorching environment with small fumes of exhausted gas protruding from the elongated pipes in the back. They approached a small city and skidded their bikes to a halt. They kicked their stands up and climbed off their vehicles.

Two Mobian figures and a large robotic shape approached the small town that stood before them. The first Mobian was a grey furred hedgehog who wore a long brown jacket that draped to his ankles. A black cowboy hat sat up his head with a crimson red striped around the base. A black scarf clung the Hedgehog's neck which he pulled up to cover the lower part of his face. His hands were coated in black gloves that had sharp metal claws at the tips. His legs were covered by dark blue jeans which had a brown belt wrapped around it. A golden clasp held the belt around his waist and two leathery holsters held two silver pistols that glistened in the sunlight. His feet were protected by jet black boots with golden spurs clinging to the heels. Underneath his jacket was a dark white T-shirt with short sleeves. His two companions stood at his sides.

The Mobian second who stood to his left was a yellow furred wolf who wore blue jeans, brown shoes, white gloves, and a black bandanna. A pistol with a few bronze blotches was held in his black leather holster. The Wolf had green eyes and was around the same age as the Hedgehog. To the hedgehog's right was a large robot that appeared to be in the E-100 Series production line. He had a stocky red painted upper body and black painted arms with sharp clawed fingers at the ends. His shoulders were squared and dark red. His legs black less bulky than his upper torso but were still sturdy nonetheless. His feet were red and a small jetpack was mounted on the mechanical being's back.

"Draco, Mac," the Hedgehog said as he straightened his hat. "Show time, boys." The trio walked into the town where the folks were minding their own business. This day of normality was quickly shattered as one of the citizens spotted the group and panicked.

"Its Raptor!" he said pointing at the hedgehog. "Raptor's here!" the other folks turned their head in the direction of where the citizen was pointing and screams of terror filled the air as they bumped and shoved one another in desperate attempts to get into their homes. Soon the streets had turned from a populated plaza to a barren wasteland and the trio were the lone occupants. The hedgehog addressed as Raptor looked around the town as the wolf, Draco chuckled.

"Yet again, another town frightened to death by us." he snickered, picking up an apple from a tipped over basket one of the folks had dropped and crunched into it. The robot, Mac whirred as his top torso scanned the streets.

"Is he here, Mac?" asked Raptor, raising an eyebrow at his friend.

_"Affirmative," _the robot replied, pointing down the road to a small building with _'jailhouse'_ written in big letters on the front of the structure. _"He's in there." _Raptor took fastened his belt and motioned for his partners to follow him. They reached the door and Raptor knocked loudly. A few moments later the door's call was answered by white furred Echidna who wore brown boots, a brown vest with the words _'sheriff Victor Juarez'_ written on the right side, white gloves, and a brown hat shielding his face from the sun. He held a silver pistol in his right hand, the end of the barrel slightly charred black after its years of use.

"Afternoon, Sheriff Juarez." Raptor snorted.

"Raptor the Hedgehog," The sheriff said, crossing his arms over his chest. "I've heard quite a bit about you and your little group of thugs. I do have to say, I'm not impressed with your robberies. You and your gang best leave before there's some trouble."

"You know the last sheriff we bumped into who tried to force us out-without meeting our demands-found himself eating the barrel of my pistol and a bullet as a side dish." Raptor retorted, unsheathing his left pistol and twirling it in his hand. "How about we settle this with duel? Here's the deal if you win, you can just take me and my boys into prison. But if I win, you leave town if you happen survive. But I'm giving you a third option, tell the people at the bank to hand over the cash and we'll leave without incident." Juarez thought for a moment.

"I can't let you take these folk's money." he finally said. "They work long and hard to earn that and I can't just give it away to some outlaw like you. I'll duel you."

"You've made your choice," Raptor said, narrowing his eyes. "Let's begin, shall we?"

Juarez and Raptor walked to the center of town and faced each other. Both stood ready, their fingers slowly stretching out, ready to snatch their pistol before the other even had a chance to blink. Draco and Mac watched from the sidelines as well as the townsfolk who watched from the safety of their homes behind closed windows. Both slowly stared into each other's souls as time slowed to a crawl, fresh beads of sweat beginning to trail down their faces. Juarez and Raptor both whipped out their pistols but the sheriff was slightly faster as he fired a round towards the outlaw but Raptor rolled out of the way with incredible speed and countered with own shot.

The bullet whizzed through the air and struck Juarez in the chest who grunted and was knocked to the ground by the force of the impact, his pistol fell from his hand and he laid on the ground, still. Raptor stood up, straightened himself, re-holstered his pistol and walked over to the sheriff's body. He examined Juarez's body, seeing that the bullet had hit his left side and he noticed that the sheriff wasn't breathing. He's dead, the outlaw concluded as he turned to his companions and nodded who nodded in return.

"Time to take what we came here for." he said as he and his gangsters made their way towards the town bank. Raptor sighed silently to himself. These sheriffs just never knew when to give up. He knew he had the echidna beat before the duel even began. The thought made him chuckle to himself as they approached the bank's entrance.

Raptor kicked the door down and headed towards the counter, Mac followed closely behind as his chest opened up, revealing a brown sack. Raptor took the sack and Draco stood guard at the door, pistol out and ready, making sure no one would interfere. Raptor rang the bell at the counter and a female cat slowly showed the top of her head from behind the desk.

"C-Can I help you, sir?" she asked only to be greeted with the sack being thrown in front of her.

"Put the money in the bag and we'll leave without firing a shot." Raptor warned. The cat hesitated but then quickly began to pile money into the sack as he heard Raptor's pistol click. As soon as she was done, she held the bag out and Raptor took it. He stored the bag into Mac's chest which sealed shut with a sight hiss.

"Draco, let's go, we're done here." Raptor ordered. Draco nodded and he followed his boss towards the town's exit. The three then boarded their motorcycles and sped off once more, as quick as hey came, they were gone and all in the town was quiet again.


End file.
